THE POWER OF EMOTIONS IN A SPEECH

Emotions...

Emotions make humans different from the rest. Having emotions distinguish us from robots. Having emotions is what makes us humans. Feelings make us feel alive. Having emotions helps us to understand each other.

The feeling of happiness for example, gives us the sense of satisfaction, blissfulness and joy. Anger protects us from other human beings despite the negative perceptions of anger. Sadness helps us to heal and teaches us how to deal with the facts of life. Being scared at times leads us to safety. It all depends on how you see it; positively or negatively. Either way, you can’t live without your emotions.

You can feel emotions around you every day. You feel love when you kiss your adorable little boy in the morning. You feel angry when someone took your favourite pen without asking. You feel sad when your best friend forgot your birthday. You feel excited when you go out for your first date. Or any date.

Emotions are everywhere. Even the film writers and directors add emotions in their creations and masterpiece to connect with their viewers. And honestly it works! Who wants to watch a movie that doesn’t make you cry, laugh, happy and angry at the same time?

And do you know how important it is to add emotions in your speech presentation? What makes a great speech great? Have you heard about the power of emotions in a speech?

I have always been fascinated by speech presentation as long as I can remember. You can call it an obsession, passion or weirdness but I love watching and observing people giving a speech. I actually learned a lot from watching these presentations; not only getting the message of the speech but also studying the delivery techniques used.

There is one thing that I noticed. Some speakers took emotions for granted. They might have come up with great speech content but without feelings injected into it, their speech has less impact. They didn’t realise how powerful emotions can be.

I remember attending a business seminar a few years back and there was this speaker who spoke about the importance of investment for the future. His speech content was very precise, easy to follow and full of information. In fact, his points were brilliant. The only thing lacking was the emotions. He spoke as if he was reading a pamphlet or the booklet instead of speaking to us. He did not reach out to his audience. He didn’t share any stories, any life examples or any jokes. He didn’t make us feel good, regret, sad or motivated. His presentation was plain, dry, flat and unenthusiastic although in my personal opinion, he was a natural speaker.

So what is the power of emotions? Why is the use of emotions so important in a speech? Here are some of the reasons.

Emotions help the speaker to make the audience understand the message.

The main reason for giving a speech is to get the message across to your listeners; whether you wish to inform, persuade or inspire them. When a speaker shares a real life experience, a speaker tells a story. By telling the story with feelings, the audience will understand what the speaker went through and the points that the speaker is trying to make. The speech message will get across to the listeners faster and more effective. Through understanding, the questions of why, how and what can be answered.

Let me give you an example. A speaker speaks about healthy living. She tells a story about how she struggled with her illness for many years. She tells the audience about her hardship, her pain and the sadness she had to go through all these years. By sharing her real emotions and her deepest fear, the audience can understand what happened to her which changed her life. They will understand why she thinks everyone should lead a healthy lifestyle. They will come to realize how important it is to look after their health. 

   

Emotions helps speaker to connect with the audience.

Every time you listen to a speech, you are always looking for something or someone who you can relate too. What is the point of listening to someone who that does not understand you? A speaker who speaks with feelings can connect easily with the audience.

Sometimes when you show to others that you are only human who has feelings, it will break the barrier between you and your audience. People are usually reluctant to listen to someone who seems so perfect. When you speak with emotions, you audience will feel what you feel and they will feel that you know exactly how they feel. Sharing your feelings with them is not a sign of weakness. It is actually quite the opposite.

Emotions move the audience.

The use of emotions is important especially when you are trying to inspire and motivate your audience. You must deliver your speech with enthusiasm and dynamism. The audience will be inspired and motivated by you. You will be able to convince them, to move them and drive them towards changing their life and their mind-set. History has proven that powerful speeches changed the world and the greatest speakers in history delivered their speeches with passion, intensity and full of heart.

Emotions make the speech more interesting.

Have you ever listen to a robotic like speaker? I’m not referring to a real robot of course. I mean a speaker who speaks without feelings? A speaker who give a speech as if he or she is reading a script? A speaker who does not have any facial expressions? A speaker who speaks with a voice of the same tone from the beginning until the end?

Can you imagine if an actor speaks like that in a movie? Even Darth Vader shows his true feelings and he is one of the most iconic villains! If you want your speech to be more interesting, have a little heart and tell them how you feel and what you believe in. Make them cry. Make them laugh. Make them think. Make the audience stick to you like glue!

But not everyone can express themselves very well…

Yes, that’s true. Some of us have difficulties in showing our emotions. Some of us just happen to have the same facial expressions. Do you know anyone like that? You can’t really tell if they are angry, happy or sad. You don’t even know if they are serious or just pulling your legs. So how can this type of people speak emotionally? Don’t worry. There are still ways to use emotions in our speech even if you are not an expressive person.

How to speak with emotions?
Here are some ways to do it.

Tell your personal stories

Personal stories are mostly stories based on your own experience or the experience of those you hold dearly. Real life experiences tend to make a big impact to our life. You felt the moment, the love and the pain. You experienced your successes, your failures and your adventures.

Telling your personal stories in your speech is one way to share your feelings with your audience. Even though you can’t show your feelings as well as other speakers, telling your own story still convey the message to your listeners.

  

Speak with a purpose or a good cause.    

A speech must have a purpose. When you deliver a speech with a purpose or a reason, you are giving a speech based on something than you believe in. When you strongly believe in something, you will say what you feel. When you speak for a good cause, your determination and persistence shall reveal how you feel. Take for instance an environmentalist who wants to create awareness to the public about saving the endangered animals. The environmentalist strong opinion on the matter encourages him or her to give a commendable speech.   

Speak from the heart.

You might be delivering a speech to inform your audience of some information. You may be trying to persuade them to change their mind set. Maybe you intend to motivate and inspire them to be better. Whatever you do, just let go of your feelings. Show your feelings to your audience. Be sincere. Tell the truth. Tell them why they should listen to you. Convince them why they need to change. Speak from the bottom of your heart.

Learn to use your facial expression, voice and body gestures

Facial expression tells it all. That’s how good actors in films make it happen. How will you be able to add some emotions to your speech if you can’t even show others how you feel?

Never fear. You can actually learn how to use your facial expression. The secret is to come up with the facial expressions which matches your feelings. If you are telling them a story of how angry you were then you must look angry when you explain the situation. If you are sad, you can’t put on a happy face, can you? Your audience will be confused.

Your voice is also a good indicator of how you feel. Do you realize how a voice changes due to the way someone is feeling? A voice of anger is usually very forceful. A voice of sadness and depression seems to be a bit shaky. Besides this, your body gestures also reveal the way you feel. Someone who is happy should have smiling eyes and seems relax.

Start practicing using your facial expression. Find out how to use your voice and your body language the right way. Believe it or not, I learned how to use my facial expression from watching movies. Yes, that’s right. Theater and performing arts helped me a lot too. Joining a drama class is also a good idea for those who are less expressive. It may seem difficult at first but it will get easier after a while.

A point to remember…

By adding emotions to your speech content and speech delivery, you will make your speech more powerful. However, too much emotion in a speech is never a good thing. When I suggested you should add some emotions when you speak, I didn’t mean you should be emotional.  Some speaker might get a bit carried away during their speech delivery.

I have mentioned this before in my other post. If the emotions are too much, it may be too heavy for the audience to bear. The message might not reach the audience. Remember, less is more. Just enough emotions are all you need. Other than that, try to have a mixture of feelings and emotions in your speech. Tell your audience some jokes, a sad and a motivating story. Make them laugh, make them cry and make them feel good.

Speaking with emotions starts from within. Once you begin to connect your feelings with your audience, everything will turn out fine. Your facial expressions, your voice and your body gestures will follow and tell it all.

Be passionate. Be enthusiastic. Don’t be afraid to show some emotions. Because at the end of the day, they will not forget your speech because they will always remember how they felt listening to you.

Written by: Intan Salwana Anis @2017 Public Speaking Is Cool. All Rights Reserved.